Turkey Leans To Hillary, Sorry Barack!

Accordng to the Turkish Daily News, most of their nation’s diplomats and high-level offiicials “generally favor leading candidate Senator Hillyary Clinton over her chief rival Senator Barack Obama.” Many Turkish leaders regard the 1990s under President Bill Clinton as the highest point in positive US-Turkish relations over the past four decades. They fear Barack Obama represents a figure who wants “change” and there is uncertainty regarding exactly what change he would seek in relations with Turkey. They are all worried about Obama’s foreign policy figures such as Samantha Power, an academic on ‘genocide.’ who is regarded as having unfavorable views toward Turkey. Since Hillary Clinton’s advisers date from her husband’s era, they are viewed as being more positive toward Turkey.

Part of the difficulty for Turkey in evaluating benefits or deficits of a new American president is viewing the issue through the lens of the Armenian genocide controversy. Hillary Clinton did sign on the Senate resolution about the Armenian genocide and Barack Obama did send a letter to Bush a few years ago raising the issue. However, neither is really known as a firm advocate of the issue and will most probably cast it to the side as a major issue if elected president. Turkish leaders too frequently ignore the real impact in America of the Armenian issue. It is a minor topic for American political leaders and they usually sign on to resolutions to please a few constitutents, but would not expend political energy on the topic.